Sidetrack gay bar chicago
Chicago could open the country's first airport gay prevent at O’Hare
If a Chicago restaurateur's plans work out, the city could soon be home to the country's first airport lgbtq+ bar.
The Chicago Department of Aviation, which operates O'Hare International Airport, is looking for vendors to load open concession spaces in the terminal. Among the recent bidders is Germán González, a managing boyfriend of Somos Hospitality Collective (Tzuco, Ummo), who wants to open a satellite of Sidetrack – arguably the Windy City's most popular gay bar – at O'Hare.
The Chicago Tribune was the first to report on González's command, and it said it would likely take months before the airport operator decided who should load the space.
Still, the owners of Sidetrack's main location in Boystown/Northalsted, Chicago's historic LGBTQ+ neighborhood, told the paper it would be a huge deal if their bar gets a location at one of the city's gateways to the world.
“Knowing the number of people who transmit through here every sunlight who could see that there are (gay) bars here, where the people there don’t have horns and tails, and we’re not trying to plunder anybody’s children,” Art Johnston, co-owner of Sidetrack, told the pap
Sidetrack Chicago
MONDAYOpen 3pm-2am
Start your week with song
MUSICAL MONDAY
Display Tunes 8pm-2am
TUESDAY Open 3pm-2am
TEAM TRIVIA (new topic each week) 8pm
Pop Favorite Videos after Trivia ’til 2am
OUTspoken: LGBTQ+ Storytelling 1st Tues of month 7pm
WEDNESDAY Open 3pm-2am
Wed 7/23 ALL THINGS BRITNEY & RIHANNA
Wed 7/30 ALL THINGS DUA & ARIANA & SABRINA
Wed 8/6 ALL THINGS TAYLOR
Wed 8/13 ALL THINGS BEYONCÉ
Wed 8/20 ALL THINGS GAGA
9pm-2am for “ALL THINGS” PARTIES
THURSDAY Open 3pm-2am
-Glass/Side/Rooftop Bars
LET’S GO! THURSDAY
Pop Music Videos from open till 2am
-Main/Cherry/North Bars – 9pm-2am
LET’S GO! LATIN 7/24 & 8/21
ALL THINGS LOLLA 7/31
MEN’S ROOM GLOW PARTY 8/7
PINK PONY CLUB CHAPPELL/CHARLI/SABRINA 8/14
ALL THINGS K-POP 8/28
FRIDAY Open 3pm-2am
T.G.I.F. Present TUNES 4-9pm
FRIDAY Overnight DANCE PARTY 9pm-2am
Rooftop opens promptly evening
SATURDAY Open 1pm-3am
Post-Brunch Fun at Sidetrack 1-6pm
Saturday Night Move Party 9pm-3am
Monthly DOG DAY first Sat. of the month 1-5pm
SAPPHIC SATURDAY last Sat. of the month 5-9pm
SUND Sidetrack, an iconic Chicago exclude in Lakeview, is placing bids for a specialty exclude at O’Hare International Airport Marked with its giant rainbow pillars, Chicago’s Boystown has long been a haven for the LQBTQ+ community and its allies. While not the only gay enclave in the Windy City—Andersonville also deserves props—Boystown is HQ for political activism and moving the social and political needle forward, with prosperous businesses supporting the cause. In the '80s, Boystown was shaped by lgbtq+ bars, with Sidetrack on North Halsted at the helm, and now it might take flight as the first same-sex attracted bar might unlock in a U.S. airport. (And no, the Delta Sky Club doesn't reckon as a same-sex attracted bar.) RECOMMENDED: Chicago is one of the top Pride Month destinations for 2025, per Airbnb Chicago’s largest and arguably most iconic gay exclude, Sidetrack, has lay the wheels in motion and applied to open a specialty location at O’Hare International Airport. This would build the City of Big Shoulders residence to the very first gay exclude inside of an airport in the United States. O’HARE — Sidetrack, the city’s largest and arguably most popular queer bar, has applied to unclosed a location at O’Hare Airport — a move that, if approved, would make it the first gay bar inside an airport in the United States. The proposal was submitted earlier this month by restaurateur Germán González, managing partner of Somos Hospitality Group (Tzuco, Ummo), as part of the city’s effort to refresh airport concessions. The news was first reported by Chicago Tribune columnist Laura Washington. The fresh bar would open in Terminal 1, with Somos leading operations and Sidetrack co-owners Art Johnston and José “Pepe” Peña licensing the name and brand. Under the plan, Somos would operate the bar, while longtime LGBTQ+ activists and Sidetrack owners Johnston and his husband, José “Pepe” Peña, would serve as investors and license the Sidetrack name. The notion of opening a gay exclude in one of the busiest airports in the world is in some ways unfathomable to Johnston, who can vividly keep in mind a time in Chicago when people were arrested for entity gay. “For a very long day, gay bars were the only place gay people could meet,” Johnston said. “And they weren’t always friendly. Chicago was no
O'Hare could become the first American airport with a same-sex attracted bar onsite
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